The Western Hemisphere, especially the United States, has during the past few decades, developed a great interest in the Oriental unarmed defense arts, i.e. Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, Kempo, Kung Fu, and Okinawa-Te. The question frequently raised by the American public is: “Why are the people of the United States so interested in the Oriental arts?” The answer to that question most often leads to group discussions: “During World War II, the early 1940′ s, millions of young American men were exposed to the Oriental arts in Okinawa and Japan. These men brought the arts home to the United States.” Another answer which the public expounds is: “The Korean War in the early 1950′ s exposed and taught the soldiers of the United States the Oriental arts.” Both of these answers have merit, but they still don’t explain why the overseas United States soldiers became interested enough in these arts to work, study, and practice them in order to learn enough to bring the skills home. There must be some deeper answer as to why our country is so oriented to the martial arts.
This author believes the question can be answered by an explanation of the elements of our Oriental art. The Oriental art that will be discussed is Tang Soo Do; which in Korean means “Art of the Open Hand”.
There is no doubt that there were many soldiers in Korea during the United Nations conflict that saw many brilliant displays of Tang Soo Do as a means of self-defense. These were normally demonstrated where a small slight Oriental defeated a large man not trained in the skill. These demonstrations immediately developed a question in the American viewer’s mind: “How is this skill attained?” Upon approaching a master of T.S.D. (black belt) and requesting information, the questioner would find the master a man humble in his profession, at peace with himself and the world, and very willing to share his knowledge of his art. (But, before sharing his knowledge of his art, he would first be prone to relate a brief history of T.S.D.) This history would be related as follows:
About five thousand years ago, in China, the monks were being beaten and robbed frequently by bandits and rogues. Being holy men, they could not carry weapons, so it was necessary for them to find a way to protect themselves without arms. The monks devised a means of self-defense using the unarmed body that proved to be highly effective; thus Tang Soo Do was born. In developing this self-defense art, the monks found there were many additional side benefits to the human mind and body due to the training methods. These side benefits as well as self-defence skills have become the present day objectives of a person commencing training in T.S.D. Today, each of these objectives is thoroughly described and explained to each beginner prior to beginning training.
Some of the major objectives of Tang Soo Do might be expressed as:
- Develop a value of peace of mind, clear conscience, and a realization that: “The body is a temple of goodness.”
- Attain the ability to complete concentration and meditation by training the mind to an ultimate degree.
- Develop a love of peace which is a dislike of all force and injury on all mankind.
- Train the mind to have control over the body to such an extent that maximum muscular efficiency and power can be attained at will.
- Tone the muscles of the body so all sinews are firm and flexible.
- Learn the value and means of muscle relaxation demonstrating ability to attain complete rest and rejuvenation in a minimum time.
- Develop habits to prepare the body for everyday activity by exercises, stretching, and breathing.
- Demonstrate an awareness of the world; thereby, becoming confident of one’s own personal relative position in the universe.
- Learn and practice the various means of relaxing or body and mind rejuvenation by muscular positioning.
- Acquire the skill of resting and toning of the body by muscular tension and relaxation.
- Learn the most efficient means to protect one’s body from imminent physical harm if threatened by external forces.
The four forms of perfection frequently expressed are the possession of the highest intellectual facilities, moral perfection, perfection of the conformation, and skills of the body and the acquisition of worldly goods. Three of the four perfections mentioned above are in whole or partly attained with the help of the eleven objectives of T.S.D. The least important of the four (acquisition of worldly goods) is the least benefiting perfection of the four. It is realized that the listed eleven objectives of T.S.D. are difficult if not impossible for all students to attain, but an attainment of one or more is a worthy achievement.
The eleventh objective, defense of one’s self from harm, is the easiest to attain even though it is the least important. This objective does satisfy the major psychological need of “safety needs” or a self-defense capability. The objective also provides a major contribution as the beginning of the acquiring of self-confidence.
